Kosher Salt

[UKEgger]

So this stuff is as cheap as chips in the US, has anyone found somewhere to but it over here ? I've been using Maldon Sea Salt but it gets pretty expensive.

[keith157]

I used Maldon to start with but switched to cheaper brands, Saxo do a sea salt as does Aldi

[UKEgger]

I actually have about 3 packets of different sea salt in my garage, I'll check out the Aldi one..

[Jonty]

I just use bog standard supermarket sea salt too. I think the key thing is to just make sure it doesn't have any iodine added.

[UKEgger]

Kosher salt for me was just the right consistency and was cheap, I haven't noticed a difference in taste though, just expense..!

[aris]

The difference is not so much taste but the crystalline structure of the salt and how it sticks to the meat. I have some proper kosher salt in my pantry - with Hebrew on the box and all - imported from Israel. It is just medium coarse sea salt. I also have some French Fleur de Sel - very similar to Maldon. For BBQ,I just use regular table salt.

[keith157]

The French stuff is very "pretty" if you get some of the larger crystal growths, an added "garnish" for the food.
We use the same fine sea salt for all uses.

[Eddie]

You might want to take a little look at this http://ask.yahoo.com/20030310.html .
This conclusion were my sentiments all along.
Eddie

[Pecker]

A little theological input.

Leviticus 17:11 says "For the life of the flesh is in the blood".

For thousands of years Jews have taken this to mean that as much blood as possible must be removed from meat before consumption. The first thing they do is to kill animals by slitting the throat. This effectively uses the animal's heart as a blood pump (which, of course, it is) to pump a lot of blood out of the animal whilst it's still (just) alive.

Then, after butchering into steaks, etc, the animal is soaked in water. After the soaking the piece of meat is then put on a draining rack and covered in salt. The salt acts as a sponge, drawing the water (now mixed with any remaining blood) from the meat.

If the salt is too fine it will not draw the moisture. If the salt is too large it will not stick to the meat. So, over the years, Jews have developed manufacturing processes to ensure they get just the right size of salt grain. That's what kosher salt is.

I use Maldon as a condiment, or when seasoning steaks, etc, and just normal sea salt as an ingredient. The main taste advantage of Maldon is the unique crystaline structure. As soon as it's disolved you might as well be using any other sea salt - it all tastes the same. However, Maldon is stronger in flavour - saltier - so whilst the general taste is the same, you can use less.

Steve W

[Eddie]

A little theological input.

Leviticus 17:11 says "For the life of the flesh is in the blood".

For thousands of years Jews have taken this to mean that as much blood as possible must be removed from meat before consumption. The first thing they do is to kill animals by slitting the throat. This effectively uses the animal's heart as a blood pump (which, of course, it is) to pump a lot of blood out of the animal whilst it's still (just) alive.

Then, after butchering into steaks, etc, the animal is soaked in water. After the soaking the piece of meat is then put on a draining rack and covered in salt. The salt acts as a sponge, drawing the water (now mixed with any remaining blood) from the meat.

If the salt is too fine it will not draw the moisture. If the salt is too large it will not stick to the meat. So, over the years, Jews have developed manufacturing processes to ensure they get just the right size of salt grain. That's what kosher salt is.

From this process the salt beef bagel from brick lane was born One of my top 5 foods in the world

Only times of thinking of these, I miss living in London.

Eddie